By Jorge Casuso

March 7, 2012 -- Some of Santa Monica's top Civic leaders of the past two decades -- including three former City Department heads, a former mayor and the head of the city's tourism bureau -- have been elected to sit on what until now has been a relatively obscure board.

They are among the seven members who will sit for the next two years on a newly reconstituted Pier Restoration Corporation board that will steer Santa Monica's historic landmark in a new direction as it embarks on its second century.

"We have an embarrassment of riches among those who have applied for these positions," said Mayor Richard Bloom after the council vote last Tuesday.

City staff winnowed down a field of 21 candidates and presented ten finalists to the council, with each council member compiling a list of their top seven choices.

Receiving the most votes with six each were former mayor Judy Abdo; former City manager Susan McCarthy; John Catoe, the former head of the Big Blue Bus, and Rae Archibald, a RAND researcher who sat on the old Pier board for 15 years.

Receiving five votes each were Barbara Stinchfield, the City's former director of Community and Cultural Services; Convention and Visitors Bureau head Misti Kerns and Raymond Braun, a founding Principal of Entertainment + Culture Advisors (ECA).

The only newcomer to the local political scene is Braun, whose firm specializes in "entertainment development projects, recreation and tourism economics, and attraction development potential," according to the company's web site.

Among the firms clients in the theme park industry are the Walt Disney Company, Sea World, Universal Studios, and Merlin Entertainments, according to the site.

The council was seeking candidates whose areas include strategic planning and policy development, finance, management, marketing and tourism to sit on a working board that will meet twice a month, City staff said.  

"It is going to be very demanding," staff told the council.

The new board is part of a major overhaul of the Pier Restoration Corporation (PRC), the non-profit agency that for nearly three decades has run the world-famous Pier.

Under the new management structure, the smaller board will focus primarily on marketing, planning special events and fundraising the regional destination, instead of on rebuilding and revitalizing the structure, which was the original mandate when the agency was formed 29 years ago, City officials said.

Leasing, which has been a key function of the board, would be turned over the City's Office of Pier Management.

The RRC's budget approved by the council will be $1,098,586, with $501,086 coming from a base grant from the City and 597,500 anticipated to be generated from "event sponsorships, promotions, filming, special event deck rental, and Carousel bookings," staff said.

Under the Services Agreement approved by the council, the PRC will be tasked with marketing, sponsorship, community event production, special event management, filming, street performer monitoring, community outreach and education.